City to discuss proposed holding pond

April 10, 2008|By Jackie Burke Grumish

City officials hope a proposed holding pond that could hold up to 60 million gallons of water would help with Aberdeen drainage. The $2 million to $2.5 million proposal, which could be built this fall if approved by the council, calls for the holding pond to be built just north of Willow Drive, southwest of the fairgrounds. The holding pond will be discussed in a 4 p.m. City Council work session on Monday. The public is encouraged to attend and offer input. The council will take no action at that session. The pond could be built on roughly 100 acres of land owned by Dennis Maloney, said Aberdeen Mayor Mike Levsen. The land has been offered to the city for $275,000, which is less than the appraisal price, but until the council votes on the matter the city will not enter into an agreement with Maloney, Levsen said. The area already acts as a sort of natural holding pond but does not hold very much water. Plans to build a large holding pond started about five years ago, when the city completed a drainage study to help identify areas that needed improvement. Now, after the May 2007 flooding, city engineers have a better understanding of where the biggest need is and what needs to happen to minimize the flooding should the city ever experience another flood of that magnitude, said Robin Bobzien, city engineer and public works director. On May 5, Aberdeen got a calendar-day record rainfall of 7.62 inches, according to National Weather Service statistics. City officials identified North State Street as the worst hit part of town. The area remained flooded - chest deep in some areas - for several days. Normally water is drained into Moccasin Creek, but because the creek was so full, water backed up and ran down the street before it settled near the intersection of North State Street and 17th Avenue Northeast. In the North State Street area, water runoff was collecting faster than crews could pump it out, Bobzien said.